How China and Myanmar Are Responding To Crisis (Rotten Food?)
posted in Foreign News | | | View blog reactions | Print This PostDifferent responses to disasters in Myanmar, China
By EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Two natural disasters in tightly controlled Asian nations this month have produced two very different responses: Myanmar’s very slow reaction to Cyclone Nargis and China’s speedy response to a killer earthquake [BlackPerspective.net Publisher’s Note: There are some affected victims in China that will dispute that the Chinese government moved quickly in the first couple of ours or so, but otherwise…].
Myanmar’s sparked international outrage. China’s won admiration.
Myanmar’s military government, which has ruled with an iron first since 1962, has barred almost all foreign experts experienced in managing humanitarian crises, saying it would handle relief efforts on its own.
But without the equipment to even lift cargo off Boeing 747s and at least 1.5 million people in need, the U.N. warned Tuesday that Myanmar faces a monumental catastrophe unless relief efforts reach the scale of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
China’s communist government also said it was not allowing foreign aid workers into the area affected by Monday’s 7.9-magnitude earthquake that wrecked towns and killed thousands across Sichuan province though it would accept international aid for the tens of thousands left homeless.
But in contrast to Myanmar, China’s government quickly moved into high-gear, sending 20,000 soldiers and police into the disaster area with 30,000 more on the way. The government was also mobilizing food, clothes, tents and plastic sheeting for the victims and sent Premier Wen Jiabao to oversee relief efforts.
BBC Audio on China and Myanmar Disasters
Click here (or to open in a new window, right click on the link and choose “open link in new window) and you can choose to listen to it in Real Player or in Media Player.
I heard this on may way into work this morning in the car via NPR. They’re discussing the U.N. doctrine know as the “responsibility to protect”; regarding if there should be international intervention to save tens of thousands from dying under the notion that the denial of aid by Myanmar’s government constitutes a humanitarian attack upon those people.
Myanmar’s People May Be getting Rotten Food
Associated Press
updated 5:02 p.m. CT, Tues., May. 13, 2008
YANGON, Myanmar - Many cyclone victims are getting spoiled or poor-quality food from Myanmar’s junta instead of the enriched supplies being delivered by foreign governments and charities, victims and aid workers said Tuesday.
A longtime foreign resident of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, told The Associated Press in Bangkok by telephone that angry government officials complained to him about the military misappropriating aid.
He said the officials told him that high-energy biscuits rushed in on the World Food Program’s first flights were sent to a military warehouse. They were exchanged for what the officials described as “tasteless and low-quality” biscuits produced by the Industry Ministry to be handed out to cyclone victims, he said.
The foreign resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity because identifying himself could jeopardize his safety, said it was not known if the high-quality food was being sold on the black market or consumed by the military.
A government spokesman did not immediately respond to an e-mailed query from the AP seeking a comment. The allegations were impossible to confirm independently because of the junta’s restrictions on journalists.
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